Is Stampscom Inc (NASDAQ:STMP) Attractive At This PE Ratio?
This analysis is intended to introduce important early concepts to people who are starting to invest and want to start learning about core concepts of fundamental analysis on practical examples from today’s market.
Stampscom Inc (NASDAQ:STMP) is trading with a trailing P/E of 21x, which is lower than the industry average of 33.2x. While this makes STMP appear like a great stock to buy, you might change your mind after I explain the assumptions behind the P/E ratio. Today, I will explain what the P/E ratio is as well as what you should look out for when using it.
See our latest analysis for Stamps.com
Breaking down the Price-Earnings ratio
The P/E ratio is one of many ratios used in relative valuation. By comparing a stock’s price per share to its earnings per share, we are able to see how much investors are paying for each dollar of the company’s earnings.
P/E Calculation for STMP
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
STMP Price-Earnings Ratio = $214.4 ÷ $10.196 = 21x
On its own, the P/E ratio doesn’t tell you much; however, it becomes extremely useful when you compare it with other similar companies. Our goal is to compare the stock’s P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar attributes to STMP, such as company lifetime and products sold. One way of gathering a peer group is to use firms in the same industry, which is what I’ll do. At 21, STMP’s P/E is lower than its industry peers (33.2). This implies that investors are undervaluing each dollar of STMP’s earnings. This multiple is a median of profitable companies of 24 Online Retail companies in US including Jumei International Holding, Acorn International and Qurate Retail. One could put it like this: the market is pricing STMP as if it is a weaker company than the average company in its industry.
Assumptions to watch out for
Before you jump to conclusions it is important to realise that our assumptions rests on two assertions. Firstly, our peer group contains companies that are similar to STMP. If this isn’t the case, the difference in P/E could be due to other factors. For example, if you compared higher growth firms with STMP, then its P/E would naturally be lower since investors would reward its peers’ higher growth with a higher price. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing STMP to are fairly valued by the market. If this is violated, STMP’s P/E may be lower than its peers as they are actually overvalued by investors.
What this means for you:
You may have already conducted fundamental analysis on the stock as a shareholder, so its current undervaluation could signal a good buying opportunity to increase your exposure to STMP. Now that you understand the ins and outs of the PE metric, you should know to bear in mind its limitations before you make an investment decision. Remember that basing your investment decision off one metric alone is certainly not sufficient. There are many things I have not taken into account in this article and the PE ratio is very one-dimensional. If you have not done so already, I highly recommend you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for STMP’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for STMP’s outlook.
Past Track Record: Has STMP been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of STMP’s historicals for more clarity.
Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
